I can still smell the fresh grass at Candlestick Park. I took these photographs when I was at the Fuji Photo Day promotion on Saturday, May 14, 1988. The SF Giants played the NY Mets that day.

I was so enamored on this Major League baseball field, where it is nicely manicured and no gopher holes. There are no dead spots on this grass field. The grass on a baseball field is perfect! I am always super excited when I am allowed to walk on such a field.

Therefore I had to take a photograph of the Candlestick Park grass! It was immaculate and perfect.

Welcome to Candlestick Park to Dave Dravecky Day on October 5, 1991. There were 42,712 fans that showed up for the game. The SF Giants played the LA Dodgers this day and won 4-0 with Trevor Wilson getting the win and Mike Morgan taking the loss.

Dave Dravecky is an encouragement for us as he made a comeback after having half of the deltoid muscle removed from his left arm because of cancer. He pitched a 4-3 win in his first comeback game but unfortunately he severely broke his left arm while pitching his second game back. He is a brave hero who battled cancer which ended up costing him his left arm and shoulder which was his pitching arm. His left arm, shoulder, and collarbone had to be amputated to keep the cancer from spreading.

I am inspired by Dave Dravecky in how he overcame the loss of his left arm and shoulder and seeks to encourage and inspire others with hope. I have heard his testimony at various SF Giants Fellowship events. He is an example to me in His Faith in Our Savior and to never give up even when facing adversity.

He is constantly traveling to share his story and his motivational messages. Thank you Dave Dravecky for sharing your story many times at the SF Giants Special Events – Fellowship Day for the fans!

By the way, February 14th is Dave Dravecky’s birthday! Happy Birthday to Dave Dravecky, and may the Lord continue to bless your life for His Glory!

This was a fun opening day at Candlestick Park, where Willie Mays arrived in a light blue convertible car. This was the pre-game ceremony, and therefore the stadium was not very full yet.

Notice Willie Mays’ stats in his first 5 seasons in San Francisco.

I went down to the lower box seats by left field line to photograph the parade.

The SF Giants were playing against the Florida Marlins. This was the first year the Marlins played in the league.

It was always exciting to go to Opening Day since the stadium was sold out. There was always an air of excitement for this first game of the season. As was my custom, I made sure I arrived extra early to shoot lots of pictures to capture the memorable time. Little did I know that one day this stadium would be torn down and I would treasure these old pictures much more than I could imagine.

This is an exterior view of Candlestick Park’s upper concourse level during a night game. Candlestick Park had a distinctive look that separated it out from all the other stadiums.

I used high speed Kodak T-Max 35mm film to take this picture. The film holds up well enough though there is a lot of grain in the picture. I used this film a lot for my night photography pictures.

Do you see the head of the fan looking out from the upper concourse level? My wife loves this picture, but she did not notice the person until I told her. There were a few concession stands in this area, though there were more in the lower concourse. The light in this walk way gave a unique glow to the Stick. It is interesting to see the contrast of the shadows and light glow in the night. It gave an interesting perspective under the upper concourse seating area. This is another example of “chiaroscuro” which is the strong contrasts between light and dark.

It reminds me that art can be found anywhere if we will look. I love finding art in stadiums. It would be nice if I could continue this journey of photographing art in different stadiums in the future.

The baseball season was young during this game between the Houston Astros and San Francisco Giants on Friday, April 19, 1991, at Candlestick Park. The Astros were taking batting practice before this night game.

When I shot photographs at Candlestick Park, I shot with 35mm color and black and white film. Yesterday’s picture is very similar to this one except that it was a different game and in color.

Did you notice on the scoreboard – it states how the Giants were the 1911 N.L. Champions? It was typical for the scoreboard to have trivia or history about the Giants.

It is also interesting that the Astros were a part of the National League in 1991. Later they would move to the American League. Of course, in the American League last year, the Astros won their first World Series Championship.

Baseball teaches us wonderful lessons – Never give up and keep seeking to win as the Astros did.

Welcome to Candlestick Park in 1989. The SF Giants played the LA Dodgers this night and the Dodgers were taking batting practice. This was a comfortable evening as the wind was calm and it was not cold and foggy. This brings back nice memories of relaxing and watching batting practice at The Stick. With the batting cage in place, you could daydream and not have to worry about getting hit by a foul ball during batting practice. I am looking forward to baseball at AT&T in a couple of months. I also look forward to relaxing and watching batting practice there too.

Welcome to the top of Candlestick Park in Section 62, Row 23, behind Center Field. This section was often empty during most night games and week day day games. The view was unobstructed but you were a long way away from the action at home plate.

This whole upper deck in the out field was added when the 49’ers moved into Candlestick Park in 1971 to add a lot more seats. It was a huge ballpark for baseball as its maximum capacity was 63,000. It was very exciting when the stadium was full for big event games like opening day, weekend Dodger games, big promotion days, and post season games.

The photograph was taken from the Upper Box seating area down the 1st base side. Some of the SF Giants players were warming up playing catch in the foul area down the 1st base side while the San Diego Padres were taking batting practice in the field. This was a great spot to see what was going on on the field. If you look at the bottom of the photograph, you can see a couple of the Luxury Boxes skylight windows. I am looking forward to the upcoming baseball season and hearing the crack of the bats hitting the balls during batting practice and the game.

I took the photograph with high speed Kodak 35mm T-Max Black and White film. This is why the picture has the grainy look. I used this film because this was a night game. I needed a more light sensitive film, since there would be little or no daylight when the game started. I used this film a lot in the past and was happy with its results.

If I were to take this same picture today with a digital camera, I would just need to boost up the ISO which would make the camera sensor more sensitive to light. The photograph would be less grainy with today’s technology.

I anxiously awaiting for baseball season to begin, and hopefully I can share pictures of today’s SF Giants during batting practice at AT&T Park.

Can you see the Special Right Field Camera at Opening Night at Candlestick Park on Monday April 15, 1991? The SF Giants played the LA Dodgers on this cool night. The location of this camera was used sparingly for bigger event games. It was placed just beyond the right field fence and in front of the pull out stands used during 49’er games.

I was in the lower reserve area down the right field line when I took this picture.

This picture also shows the disks with the Hall of Fame SF Giants players numbers. I got close to these disks on the Fuji Photo Day when fans were allowed on the field. I wish I had touched the disks to see how they felt. I’m not sure if they were padded, since I never took the opportunity to touch one.

Lastly, does anyone know what happened to these Hall of Fame SF Giants players’ disks? Where did they go? Does anyone know what these disks were made out of? I wish I could purchase one and display it in our living room. But unfortunately, that type of decor would not be allowed by my wife.

Please comment on this blog if you know anything about these disks from Candlestick Park.

Here’s a dedicated Baseball Fan who was scorekeeping at a cold night SF Giants vs LA Dodgers Baseball game at Candlestick Park on Tuesday, April 17, 1990. He stayed to the end of the game as the Giants were trailing the Dodgers 10-5 in the middle of the 9th inning when the picture was taken. The Dodgers had just pushed across 4 runs in the top of the 9th. The Giants could not score any runs in the bottom of the 9th and ended up losing 10-5.

I took these photographs while I attended the Academy of Art University for a class project.

I wish I knew who this gentleman was. I did ask permission to take his photograph. He was a nice guy who enjoyed the game even though the Giants did not win.

If anyone know this dedicated SF Giants Baseball fan, please let me know who he is. There is always a special connection between SF Giants fans and those of us who regularly attended games at Candlestick Park. It would be nice to connect with someone who knows this happy fan!